DETAILS are beginning to emerge of how the APW pensions crisis is shattering the lives of scheme members.

The Daily Echo revealed yesterday how bosses at the American-owned electronics firm in Chandler's Ford have slashed pensions by up to 80 per cent in a bid to stop the company from folding. The bombshell affects more than 1,000 employees, past and present. One couple, Mike and Jennifer Aitken, spent the weekend in tears after being told that Mike's pension was to be decimated.

They had been banking on a comfortable retirement in nine years' time. But now the couple face selling their beloved four-bedroom home in Southampton to manage when they are 65.

Father-of-two Mike, 56, earned £34,269 as a foreman in the sheet metal section of the APW factory, and was scheduled to draw an inflation-proof annual pension of £16,081 when he reached 65.

However, the 80 per cut in pension payments means he can only expect to receive just under £3,000. Jennifer, 57, who runs Bouquets the florist at East Street, Southampton, doesn't have a pension or savings because she thought Mike's pension would be sufficient for both of them once the mortgage was paid off.

Mike had 25 years' worth of contributions, having joined the pension scheme in 1975 under then owner Vero Electronics.

He left the company in February 2000 to run deliveries for his wife. Mike, of Copsewood Road, Bitterne Park, said: "I'm at my wits' end. We spent the weekend in tears. I feel as if my world has caved in. I did not want to touch the pension because I would get next to nothing if I drew it. I was going to retire at 65, and I was ticking along as a delivery driver, but now I will have to work at least another five years on top of that.

"I will end up having to sell the house to downsize. I'm already thinking about it.

"I have nobody backing me up here - I'm in total limbo."

Mike added: "I went to a financial advisor at Lloyds TSB bank and they were gobsmacked; all they can do is set up a new savings scheme if my wife and I work until 70."

Jennifer said: "My first reaction to this was 'Oh my God, how will we live when we retire?'

"You read about this happening to others but you don't think it can happen to you. I'm devastated."

MP BACKS AFFECTED WORKERS

A HAMPSHIRE MP says he will take the plight of workers at APW to Parliament.

Eastleigh MP David Chidgey plans to quiz pensions minister Malcolm Wicks as well as take the case to the pensions ombudsman.

He is demanding to know how the scheme, which has 1,000 members, was allowed to develop such a catastrophic shortfall.

"The issue is about the management of the pension fund and whether or not it has been mismanaged," he said.

"If there is nothing untoward, if the scheme is a victim of the ups and downs of the stock exchange, and a lot of people's pensions have decreased dramatically because of that, then sadly there's nothing they can do.

"But the ombudsman has powers to see if the directors of the scheme have acted correctly and make them accountable."

Mr Chidgey is urging affected people to get in contact with their details. Contact his constituency office on 023 8062 0007 or write to 109a Leigh Road, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 9DR.